Residents want explanation for water cut

BANDAR Mahkota Cheras (BMC) residents want Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) to give an explanation for the water disruption from Dec 19 to 22 last year.

Kajang Municipal councillor Bryan Lai said Syabas owed its customers a detailed explanation pertaining to the four-day water cut faced by residents.

“On behalf of BMC residents, I request the Hulu Langat Syabas office to prepare a report after investigating the matter and include information such as the quantity of water treated by the Langat water treatment plant, areas supplied by the plant, number of reservoirs in each area and the quantity of water needed in those areas.

“We are not blaming Syabas but we want an explanation, more so because Syabas was acquired by the Selangor government last year, hence it should be transparent,” he said.

BMC business association president Henry Chin said businesses suffered losses of about 10% to 20% during the water disruption, especially restaurants and carwash operators.

“It happened several times last year, making things worse when people were struggling with a weak economy.

“We hope this will not happen again,” said Chin, who owns a carwash business and an air-conditioner repair shop.

Bandar Mahkota Cheras Residents Association secretary Lee Wen Bin said the water disruption occured during the winter solstice, which was on Dec 21 last year.

“There was not enough time for us to prepare for the water cut. I had to buy glutinous rice balls because, without water, we were not able to make them ourselves.

“We called for the Syabas water tanker to be sent to our area but we did not see it, maybe it went to the main road,” Lee said.

Having experienced water disruptions in the past during the festive season, residents have started storing water in case there is a water cut during the Chinese New Year season.